As crime continues to be an issue throughout the Twin Cities, some restaurant and business owners have started to speak up about what they would like to see done and how they think returning to work is the solution.
Tim Mahoney, the owner of The Loon in Minneapolis and St. Paul, joined News Talk 830 WCCO's Chad Hartman to discuss crime downtown and the lack of business due to remote work.
As for those who are hesitant to venture to downtown Minneapolis, Mahoney says anyone seeing a concert or attending a sporting event would be surprised.
"If you are coming for an event… I think you would be surprised at how much it hasn't changed," Mahoney said. "It's still a very nice place to come. It's relatively safe. Things change at midnight."
Like the sayings from our parents about nothing good happening after midnight, Mahoney agrees that in Minneapolis, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, things change when the clock hits 12 a.m.
When it comes to Monday through Friday and the decision from several corporations to keep workers at home instead of returning to the office, a trickle-down effect has resulted in numerous businesses closing due to the loss in clientele.
Mahoney says he feels that corporate America has the "responsibility" to bring the "vibrancy" back by bringing their people back to work.
"The more people walking around the skyways or on Nicollet Mall, it breeds safety. You feel safer in numbers," Mahoney said.
Target announced earlier this year that it would keep workers at home and change the worker to business dynamic. Mahoney shared his criticism for the decision, being that his entire business was based on the downtown community.
He shared that while sporting events, concerts, and other things help him run his restaurants, the business community was a massive part of his business.
"Our core depends on the business community," Mahoney said. "When a leader in the business community is telling their people that they are no longer going to be in the office for five days a week, I think they have a responsibility to the community."
Mahoney shared that when the Target corporate tower was built, a hotel, restaurants, and other businesses were opened around it in order to support the company's team. So while Target can change its model and not have its profits affected, others can't.
"To just say, 'Oh, we're going to change it now.' Well, Target can change it. Their revenue source isn't going to be affected by it. But our revenue source is affected by it," Mahoney said. "Because our mission statements and our business plans are based on other businesses in the community."
But not every corporation is moving in the same direction, as Mahoney shared that his St. Paul location is a bit of a different story. In St. Paul, his restaurant is across from Ecolab and Travelers. He shared that the executives from both companies have come in personally thanking them for staying open, sharing that they are going to get workers back in the office at least a couple of days a week.
"They feel a responsibility to make sure that downtown St. Paul is a community again," Mahoney said. "I think that is lost in Minneapolis."
When it comes to what can be done to stop rising crime numbers in the cities, Mahoney says public officials stepping up and getting the Minneapolis Police Department some more support would help.
"We just don't have the power. The man and woman power to go out there and police," Mahoney said. "And they have to bring back some of the nuisance laws. They have to. You can't allow people rolling dice, drinking, and smoking dope having a party out at their car at 11 o'clock at night while there's a Twins game. That just feeds the fear and the perception of crime, and that's the problem."
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